IBSE Final

30 NaTIoNal SCIENCE TEaChERS aSSoCIaTIoN

Chapter 2 The Teaching of Science Content

changing daily because scientists exist and work. Every teacher brings ...

substance, structure, and style. (Brandwein 1965, p. 2)

the Substance of Science

Because the themes seem to be fundamental to science teachers, one has to ask,

What does Brandwein mean by substance, structure, and style? He elaborates on

the idea of substance by appealing to James Bryant Conant’s definition: Substance

consists of a “series of concepts or conceptual schemes arising out of experi-

ment and observation and leading to new experiments and ideas” (Conant 1957,

p. x). The conceptual schemes are not final statements. Rather, they are tempo-

rary scientific explanations.

They are the hard substances of science quarried by meaningful and relevant

activity by the scientist in (a) investigating the material universe; (b) developing

orderly explanations of the objects, events, and phenomena investigated; and (c)

subjecting his orderly explanation, or concepts, to testing by insisting on and

inventing means for empirical validation. (Brandwein 1965, p. 3)

For Brandwein, substance was the fabric of ideas and tools of science and

technology. Adding dimension to the theme of substance, Brandwein weaves

a wonderful tapestry of scientific inquiry as a process leading to knowledge of

science and technology. As we will see, however, the substance of inquiry and

technology did not become a significant component of curricular structure.

the Structure of Curriculum

What about the theme of structure? For Brandwein, structure in science teaching

consists of how concepts are developed in the educational environment. The

structure includes content ordered in the forms of concepts and the educational

experiences that the students bring and that the science teacher provides. In

short, one can think of how concepts are organized and the relationship they

have to the students’ experiences in and out of school. Of primary importance

for Brandwein was the relationship among concepts and the conceptual orga-

nization of the curriculum: “To learn structure, in short, is to learn how things

are related” (Brandwein 1965, p. 4). One should note that for Brandwein the

central organizing features of structure are the science concepts and how they

are related.

the Style of Science teaching

Finally, style in science teaching is what the teacher does and the ways in which

science teachers accomplish their goals. Style includes what goes on in the

science classroom, including policies, procedures, and actual teaching practices.

Style includes the culture of the classroom and the norms of the learning envi-